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Selene
Selene is a select sect of assassins who have been carrying out their work in a terrifyingly effective manner for the past seven centuries. Its members are always women of great beauty who use their appearance and supernatural abilities to execute their contracts. They call themselves Sisters, even though there are no blood ties among them. They work in the shadows, not caring if their victims are human or supernatural creatures as long as their clients can pay the elevated fees they charge for their services. The agents of Selene are mercenaries capable of carrying out any type of job. As a general rule, they are dedicated to assassination, but on many occasions they are also hired out as bodyguards or spies. The only way to recognize them is by their small silver amulet (forged in the shape of a stiletto); this lets them distinguish each other as Sisters. The great majority of its members are human in origin, although there are a few Sisters who belong to different races. The leader of the sect (and the only member with true authority over the others) is a Sylvain named Aleaxa who is now more than seven hundred years old; thanks to supernatural rituals, she has been able to conserve her youth. The principal objective of the organization is to survive. Therefore, they desire to obtain as much power as possible. The sect picks its members among orphaned girls young than eight years old. If a girl is alone and has the appropriate characteristics (attractive with a natural talent for fighting), she is lead to the Island of Selene, where she is trained in its doctrines and arts. On some occasions, a Sister can choose to send her own daughter there if she so desires. The young agents who have not yet completely mastered the abilities of the Order are called Adepts. The Adepts are under the direct command of Aleaxa, who can assign them missions so as to perfect their skills in fighting and assassination. When they feel they are ready, they are put to a test to gain the title of Sister, and from that moment they have the ability to leave the island whenever they wish to go forth into the world. A sister of Selene relishes in the total freedom to do whatever she wants, without the obligation of answering to the organization for her acts. They must only submit to three rules. They must send the sect half of all the money that they earn as mercenaries and assassins, so as to assure the survival of the Order. Secondly, they are not allowed, under any circumstances, to kill another Sister. If two agents have opposing missions, they will face off if they have no other recourse, but the one that loses is obligated to admit her defeat and surrender the battle. Lastly, they cannot reveal their secrets. Under no circumstances will they divulge the location of the island, nor can they train anyone in their arts, especially if it is a man. Should such a thing happen, the Sister would become a traitor and the sect would hunt both of them out to eliminate them. A member of Selene can live her life freely if she has obtained at least 10,000 golden crowns for the Order. Sometimes they form a family and abandon their way of life. In these cases, they are only obligated in following the three central rules of the organization if they want to be left in peace. Usually, many of them despise men and prefer to partner with women - although this way of thinking is not shared by all the Sisters. The agents of Selene are the perfect assassins. Although they prefer subterfuge, they are able to execute their victims in the open, even if they need to go through an entire battalion to do so. Normally, they use their enormous beauty as a weapon, seducing their male victims until they lower their guard. In general they are expert lovers, capable of satisfying men and women alike, but that is not their worst weapon. All the Sisters are exceptional combatants, gifted with abilities far above those humanly possible. They are expert in their own martial style and have developed fully their ability with Ki. Their preferred weapon is the stilettos, which they throw from a distance with terrifying precision. They usually coat these weapons in white cobra venom to assure the death of their victims. Although they are not known by the general populous, Selene enjoys a certain reputation among the underworld and in the hidden world; they are even respected by the supernatural creatures. Currently, the precise number of members is unknown, but experts calculate it between two to three hundred. The organization has a few contracts with the Black Sun, Samael, and the Council of Merchants of the Free Trade cities, for whom they work for as bodyguards from time to time. 'ORIGIN' The origin of Selene is radically the opposite of what it has become now. The birth of the Order goes back epochs many years before Abel. In the beginning, it was formed by a small group of Duk'zarist women who followed the philosophy of the Lady of the Moon, whose goal was to reach physical and spiritual perfection. After the War of Darkness, the daughters of Selene, in a very small group barely numbering a hundred, found themselves ideologically isolated from their people. They abandoned their culture and helped any woman, without regard of her race, who was willing to study their philosophy. Many joined them. In the end, they made the decision to establish a colony on a small island they named Selene in what we know today as the Interior Sea. Time passed, and even though their number was small, they always lived in accordance to their ideals of cultivating body and mind. As a game, they developed a complex style of fighting which became one of the best martial arts in existence. Unfortunately, when Rah started the War of God, he saw the doctrines of Selene as similar to concept of religion and ordered the total extermination of all of its members. In spite of the vast knowledge of fighting they possessed, that small pacifist island proved to be no match for the combined armies of the Lord of Judas. The only survivors were a small group of young girls that had been away on a mission entrusted to them by their teachers. When they returned, all they found was blood, pain, and death in the place that they had called home. In those times, Aleaxa was only a little girl, but even she could feel that desperation. With tears in their eyes, they swore that their Order would survive no matter what it took, even if they had to descend into the depths of hell - and that is what they did. From death rose a new Selene, and death would accompany them along the way forever. From that moment on, they inverted the basic principles of their philosophy, and their training became a lethal weapon. For years, they moved within the shadows, not allowing anyone to know of their existence. However, their objective was to rebuild their Order, and to do that they needed means that they did not have at hand. To acquire it, they sold their services to the highest bidder, abilities that in those times of chaos where needed to establish a new regime. Little by little, they sunk more into the darkness, until they became the assassins they are today. 'THE ISLAND OF SELENE' The island of Selene is the sect's only office. It is hidden away, practically inaccessible in the Interior Sea. Selene is a true paradise. The Temple of the Moon is the place where the youngest agents of the Order are trained. From there, the sect coordinates the missions for the Adepts and keeps an eye to make sure that no one breaks their code. Thanks to the enormous wealth that they possess, the Temple has every resource it needs, and the Order never cuts any expense when equipping its members. The young girls who live in the Temple of the Moon are very happy, as their teachers (and Aleaxa herself) treat them like the family they never had. The instructors are normally Sisters whose advanced age does not permit them to correctly exercise their work. Instead of starting a new life, they prefer to return to Selene and do all that they can for the youngest ones. On the island, Aleaxa watches over the safety of the Order, protected by four of the best Sisters. On very rare occasions, she can summon the whole Order by calling a meeting - although it is a very uncommon act that has only been done five times over the course of seven centuries. 'KALI THE EXECUTIONER' In case some member of Selene should ever betray the sect, Kali, the daughter of Aleaxa, has the assigned duty of finding her. She is the Executioner. Kali is a young half-elven, half-human woman. The identity of her father remains unknown, as Aleaxa has never revealed his identity. She is still young for her species - only twenty years old - but she has demonstrated an incomparable ability for fighting. Only her mother is better. The huntress does not execute her companions for simply not paying the established quotas. She hunts and executes those who directly betray the codes of the organization or reveal one of its secrets. She is also sent to kill in those rare cases where a man has learned the secrets of their arts and it’s powerful enough to have finished off the assassin that found him out. Category:Factions